Triathalon

If you have wondered at the organisational skill of Lord Coe and Boris for their feat in bringing to fruition the London overkill of female spear throwers and self obsessed men in lycra, spare a thought for those of us at the other end of the food chain who struggle to bring together a Spanish family lunch.

Held this year to celebrate Uncle Xavi's 48th, Adam's 18th and to enable the grandparents to say farewell to the boys who are returning to Scotland to study, the day was a model of calm and cooperation.

Home made canapes which involved bending anchovies and squeezing fancy bits preceded a tasty spread. Sister in Law and Partner made sushi, excellent in every respect and authenticated by eye watering wasabi. MIL flexed her mussels in tomato and garlic jus, and Uncle Xavi obliged with a huge cauldron of octopus and potato with white wine, onions and peppers. Pudding came by way of a pomegranite cheesecake and of course my version of Nigella's coffee and walnut cake.

Accompanied by a number of wines of the premeriest cru , notably a Rosé from Cap Manys (whose vineyards have been cremated by the recent fire) and a fine organic white from somewhere else and several bottles of vintage Cava.

After lunch we drifted into a period of traditional activities, timeless and tested, grandpa snored, grandma gossiped, we younger ones played cards until we fell out with unfair accusations of foul play being hurled indiscriminately, Marti (aged 15 months) whined intermittently. Friends arrived for coffee and cake later.

The tears flowed as goodbyes were said, despite my assurances that they no longer eat their young in Scotland, (well, apart from some parts of Tayside and Ayrshire) it appeared that the grandparents felt we were leaving the children to die on some frozen steppe because we can no longer afford to keep them, which is only partially true. Eventually we prised the precious darlings away and repeated the process down through the rest of the family.

I am nearly there, only two days behind in posting, will catch up by Wednesday at the latest, promise.